Using parliamentary privilege, Senator Waters said Mr Newman applied pressure to kill off a CMC investigation.

ABC TV News - file image

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has dismissed a Greens Senator's claim that he pressured the Crime and Misconduct Commission to drop an investigation into coal seam gas approvals as a "silly allegation".

Under parliamentary privilege last night, Greens Senator Larissa Waters questioned several meetings between Mr Newman and the CMC, after whistleblowers complained about the environmental approval process for two multi-billion-dollar CSG projects under the previous Labor government.

Senator Waters said the approval of the two CSG projects was unlawful and complaints made to the CMC about this were dismissed by the CMC last year without a proper explanation.

She said there were claims of undue pressure being placed on senior public servants in the Queensland Government.

However, Mr Newman said in a radio interview this morning that he had personally referred the matter to the CMC, and accused Senator Waters of making baseless allegations under the protection of parliamentary privilege.

Complaint lodged with CMC in 2013

Lock the Gate Alliance spokesman Drew Hutton and senior environmental specialist Simone Marsh lodged a complaint with the CMC in February 2013 alleging unlawful approval of the two CSG projects by QGC and Santos GLNG.

Diary entries show Mr Newman met with the head and deputy head of the CMC on February 20, 2013, and the Premier then met with QGC head Rob Millhouse on February 21, 2013.

Also at the meeting with the CMC was the premier's department director-general Jon Grayson and Mr Newman's chief of staff Ben Myers.

Senator Waters said Dr Ken Levy took over as CMC chairman in May 2013.

In September 2013, the CMC dropped the investigation.

The CMC has not responded to repeated written requests for a copy of their assessment report setting out the reasons for dropping the investigation, Senator Waters said.

She said the public had a right to know if decision-making processes had been compromised and if Mr Newman had applied pressure to kill off any CMC investigation.

"Did he inappropriately pressure [CMC acting chairman] Ken Levy to drop the CSG complaint?" she asked in the Senate.

"Did he ever threaten to abolish the CMC; has he suppressed the assessment report in relation to the complaints?

"Is it merely a coincidence that just days after the CMC received a potentially explosive complaint about corporate and political misconduct?

"The Premier met in quick succession with the CMC and then with the very company against whom the complaint was directed.

"Is the Premier usually privy to CMC investigations?"

"Why would I get in the way of something I'd referred?' Newman

Mr Newman has told Fairfax Radio this morning he personally referred the matter to the CMC in 2013.

"The allegations were about things the Bligh government did - that's why this is such a silly allegation," he said.

The allegations were about things the Bligh Government did - that's why this is such a silly allegation.

Premier Campbell Newman

"Why would I be concerned or get in the way of an investigation?

"If people don't believe me right now, why would I get in the way of something I'd referred? I mean, come on."

He says Senator Waters should be embarrassed by the claims she made.

Mr Newman says he did meet with the CMC chairman about a week after making the complaint, but says those talks happen regularly.

"There's no connection between the two," he said.

Mr Newman says Senator Waters has used parliamentary privilege to make baseless allegations.

"One of the things I did to restore accountability to government in Queensland was make it once again an offence to lie to the Queensland Parliament," he said.

"So if she'd said it in the Queensland Parliament, she'd be in a lot of trouble right now because it's completely untrue - what nonsense."

Agriculture Minister John McVeigh also told the ABC earlier today the projects had been approved years earlier by the then-Labor government.

He says the subsequent investigation was terminated after independent assessment by the CMC.

"It was in fact the Premier in February 2013, who supported calls for this particular issue to be referred to the CMC," he said.

"The CMC handed down its ruling in September 2013 advising that there was no case to answer, so Larissa Waters is raising wild conspiracy theories, with no evidence."